Report: Google to unveil TV set-top box

SAN FRANCISCO — Google is preparing to take another crack at TV with a new set-top box, the Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday night.

The tech giant will show off the set-top box during its annual developer conference Wednesday, the report said.The device will be made by another company but will be powered by new Android TV software which can play movies, games and other content on television sets, people told the Journal.

Competition is heating up among the major technology players, including Apple and Amazon, to land a seat in living rooms and take a hand in delivering digital content.

It’s not clear if Google will just provide the TV software to hardware makers or if it will also design and build its own set-top box.

Google’s track record in TV devices has been at best mixed.

In 2010, Google took its first shot at television with Google TV, which never took off. In 2012, it introduced a streaming media player called the Nexus Q, but that never went anywhere. The only successful bid has been the Chromecast, a $35 device that lets users stream video from smartphones, tablets and computers running the Chrome browser… see more

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